New Mexico’s AG, Gary King
We have just learned that New Mexico’s Attorney General, Gary King, has obtained a temporary restraining order against Valley Meats which will prevent the company from slaughtering horses until after a hearing on the AG’s lawsuit which is scheduled for this Friday.
Owners of Valley Meats and their attorney have been making sounds to the effect that they had intended to start butchering companion horses as soon as the first of the year, those plans are now null and void.
Many thanks to Attorney General Gary King for listening to not only the citizens of the fine state of New Mexico but the 80% of Americans who do not want to see the blight of predatory horse slaughter taint their country.
Updates to follow.
Related Articles
- Uncertainty shrouds horse slaughter in US (horsetalk.co.nz)
- New Mexico AG suing Roswell horse slaughter plant (KOB.com)
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
YEA !
LikeLike
Yay! Is this a public hearing?
LikeLike
Thank goodness! We seem to be winning only by a hair. Hope ever so much this is halted for good.
LikeLike
A great thank you. Every single bit counts when we are fighting for our horses and burros.
LikeLike
Thank God!…But I am getting whip lash as this goes back and forth….
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
Thank you Attorney General Gary King!
LikeLike
thank heavens for Gary King ! We are hanging tough in Missouri but it’s like being a wolverine trying to stand off a grizzly bear (corporate $$$$$) ! I hope this time we can get more Senate support to pass SAFE act and abolish this criminal enterprise of horse slaughter once and for all and to return wild horses to their home ranges as well. I truly believe the tide is turning in our favor thanks to the message of Straight From The Horses’ Heart.
LikeLike
I have read some people are aghast at this guy’s involvement because he’s using it as a ‘platform’ in his bid for a run at Governor of New Mexico.
And to that I say – So What.
Every form of horse exploitation has it’s backers, and most of them are better off financially than we are or somehow, wield more political clout. I have nothing against the sitting governor, Susan Martinez. She has made her position on the matter of horse slaughter in this state perfectly clear.
So, however Mr. King wishes to support NO horse slaughter in New Mexico, bring it: The More, The Merrier!
LikeLike
Lisa, I have a bit different take on this. Mr. King might be using this “platform” as he understands the public is against horse slaughter, and he evidently either believes the same or agrees that he will serve the public interest as a public servant. Novel idea, to represent the will of the public. If that’s somehow bad then our entire constitutional foundation is as well. Go Gary!
LikeLike
If you read his complaint, you will see he has more than winning a race on his mnd. The suit is well written and speaks from authority and knowldge of crime that only an AG could know and fight. I believe people that Mr. King are what we NEED in politics and it is just fine with me that he strikes fear in the heart of those who live in duplicity.
LikeLike
They are covering this in FOOD SAFETY NEWS.
Keep the comments coming and keep this in front of the Public.
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/12/new-mexicos-attorney-general-slow-off-the-line-in-horse-slaughter-case/
Food Safety News
LikeLike
Missouri
St. Joe Channel
http://www.stjoechannel.com/story/woman-fighting-proposed-horse-slaughter-plant/d/story/A1UylmVJukOtqlu1CTzVXg
WOMAN FIGHTING PROPOSED HORSE SLAUGHTER PLANT (video)
Alan Van Zandt
(NEAR KANSAS CITY, MO) There’s no denying Diana Kline’s love of horses.
As someone who shows horses, Kline says it’s probably in her DNA.
“I’ve had horses for more than 40 years,” she said. “It is a passion of mine.”
The owner of five show horses was horrified to find out about a northwest Missouri man’s plan to open a horse slaughter plant in Gallatin. She says it’s inhumane to treat a horse like livestock.
“They’re very smart and they’re very caring,” Kline said. “They will give you their all if you ask. They’re very personable, very friendly. They love me and I love them.”
Kline has done a lot of research on horse slaughter plants.
“Horse theft goes up exponentially, always has in the past, around horse slaughter plants.”
Kline’s fight has drawn attention nationally, with a Facebook page devoted to stopping the horse slaughter plant in Gallatin from opening.
One person in Kline’s corner is the former mayor of a Texas community that housed a horse slaughter plant for more than 25 years before closing in 2007.
“You can call it passion, or you can just call it people who are very well grounded in the facts,” said Paula Bacon, mayor of Kaufman, Texas from 2003-2007.
Dallas Crown, a horse slaughter plant located in Kaufman, closed in 2007 when the federal government defunded USDA inspections of horse plants.
“When people are grounded in the facts and they see it is not happening the way they think it should, they feel like justice needs to be done,” Bacon said.
LikeLike
Awesome! Maybe we can ring in the New Year on the right foot with no more horse slaughter and more legislation against it. 🙂
LikeLike
what a relief .. for now!! can we all say it together?? I LOVE New Mexico’s AG GARY KING!!!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
LikeLike
Thank You So very much Gary King!!!!!
LikeLike
We need to never give up! One step forward and two steps back but we are making progress to save our wild horses and burros.
LikeLike
Jubilation! Help, donate $2, 3-5 it adds up $ Money $ Talks Loud!!
LikeLike
Fantastic!! Thank you AG Gary King!!
LikeLike
What an awesome late Christmas gift! Thank you Mr. Gary King!!
LikeLike
I hope that he and the NM government does not let up… This has gone on far to long with so many American against horse slaughter and the toxic meat having a chance to enter our own food supply…
LikeLike
Thank you for helping the horses. They cannot tell you themselfs so I will do it for them. Thank God you have the courage to do this. We are behind you. Know that.
LikeLike
Alright folks – let’s see who the true believers are! All of us should be posting our congratulations on Attorney General King’s page, signing his petition to Governor Martinez, and pledging donations! As the saying goes, let’s see who “puts their money their mouth is”. Ready??? Go!!!
https://www.facebook.com/NMAttorneyGeneral
LikeLike
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! We will stand with you until all our horses and burros are safe!
LikeLike
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO BRAVO Mr, KING Thank You !!!!!!! This TRO time must be used Most Wisely !!!!!! We have all the Facts Now we must use them !!!!!!!
LikeLike
the FeDs Want To Make It Ultra Convenient For The KillBuyers And Haulers. I Hope Mr King Knocks That Lying Ass Blair Dunn Down A Few Notches. The SaFe Act Is Our Only Real Hope! the Ag Bill Is Temporary And Doesn’t Stop Horse Slaughter. PleasePush For The Safe Act..
LikeLike
Please support the Safe Act today, right after you congratulate Gary King! It will take an army to get this done! Please be a soldier in this fight! Call or write your congress people. And if you have not read it already, order the book from ISPMB about the story of Velma Johnston, Wild Mustang Annie and READ IT! Her fight (against incredible odds) will inspire you to do more…and you CAN do more, and MUST do more to win this fight! Get the Safe Act passed and repeal the Burns Amendment! …….these are my motto’s for 2014, the Year of the Horse! Come on, people, together WE CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
LikeLike
In addition to what this hero is doing, there needs to be more legislation regarding the chronic yearly breeding of horses, as in the racing and QH industries, for 2 examples. We have adopted TB’s and you would not believe how much I am getting solicited by the big breeding farms down there to breed them! I ream them out every time they call, and ask them what they are doing regarding providing after the race homes for them. Granted, there are many/every breeders at fault, but this industry is the most money hungry from my personal experience. Time to slap them with some serious money, the big millionaire/billionaires that can buy these million dollar plus horses at the sales; a quarter percent at the least for every horse to go to the retirement of that horse. We will see how much they breed then!
LikeLike
Terri, if the supply of foals was drastically decreased, do you think the breeders and associated industries might be more inclined to take better care of these horses? As in, try to keep them healthy, sound, and sane for far more years than they do now? If the “disposal” option is removed, those remaining surely become more valuable.
LikeLike
Tell me, are those sounds the owner of Valley Meat and Dunn making sort of like a hiiiiiissssssssss?
LikeLike
This is good news but it’s only a reprieve. We still need the SAFE Act. All thanks go to New Mexico Attorney General Gary King.
LikeLike
Thank you Attorney General Gary King. Please stop horse slaughter in your state of New Mexico for good. Do not give up because all the good people know that horse slaughter is so so wrong.
LikeLike
12-31-2013 A big THANK YOU to Att.Gen. Gary King from all our precious innocent equines and me. If you read Leo Grillo’s article 12-2-2004 and most of all 8-13-2013 Dr. Friedlander’s and Dr. Nancy Watson’s expert reports on the reality of horse slaughter houses and so many others, you would be appalled at the true scenario at these horse slaughterhouses whether in our country or surrounding countries. I’m praying that your “TRO” becomes a “PRO” (Permanent Restraining Order)”. Please, oh please, make my ¾ of century +one the best birthday present ever for me and the equines!
An Indian legend says: “When a human dies there is a bridge they must cross to enter into Heaven. At the head of the bridge waits every animal that human encountered during their lifetime. The animals, based on what they know of this person, decide which humans may cross the bridge…and which are turned away.”
Please remember too that A World without God’s creatures, big or small, wild or domestic, is a world without a SOUL! (BLK)
12-26-2013 updated
“Call on AVMA to Oppose Horse Slaughter”, 7-26-2011 article/post by Lauraallen.
For starters:
(1) reject that the penetrating captive bolt or gunshot can be done humanely and safely in a slaughter
house setting,
(2) find that horse slaughter is inhumane and
(3) call on Congress to ban the slaughter of horses.
Following is my response to: Comments Sought on AVMA 2011 Guidelines on Euthanasia
July 18th, 2011 by AVMA@Work Editor “The AVMA (AVMA) is accepting comments until
9-1-2011 about proposed updates on its 2011 Policy on Euthanasia.” Leave a comment:
My comments to AVMA 7-18-2011 “Work Editor: 1st-Horse SLAUGHTER is NOT HUMANE EUTHANASIA” (emailed to animalwelare@avma.org & Cc to Obama-Biden Presidential Transition group on 7-30-2011):
“The AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia is a highly respected, authoritative document that is used by everyone from the federal government to practicing veterinarians. (This alone, is a red flag as the Dept. of Agi is the epitome of animal cruelty) Euthanasia is the act of inducing humane death in an animal (SLAUGHTER is NOT HUMANE). And it is our responsibility as veterinarians and human beings to ensure that, if an animal’s life is to be taken, it is done with the highest degree of respect. (Really?) (Most Vets LOSE any sense of responsibility or compassion, if they ever had any to began with, by the time they finish school and graduate to their “groupie mentality”), and with an emphasis on making the death as painless and distress free as possible (Distress to whom, certainly not the horse?) The AVMA guidelines set criteria for euthanasia, specify appropriate euthanasia methods and agents (Does not include Succinyl Choline?), and are intended to assist veterinarians in their exercise of professional judgment” (Does that include those vets in the pockets of the livestock industry, which is all about the dollar bill!? Or those vets with psychopathetic traits or personality) (AVMA is comparable to the AMA).
7-27-2011 AVMA, IMO, is only supporting and perpetuating blatant cruelty to an animal that is NOT a FOOD animal but a COMPANION animal, and by well documented evolutionary (paleontological) and Mitochondrial DNA evidence (Kirkpatrick/Fazio), America’s wild horses-burros is a North American Native species! Why are you, a minority group, trying to destroy the perfect creature, created thru natural selection, of great intelligence, of sound body, and a social family structure that puts most human social structures to shame, under a bogus scam upon the American public of humanely “euthanize” when in fact SLAUGHTER is NOT HUMANE, but a BRUTAL ACT. Please read the excerpts below of a former killer buyer at a slaughterhouse…straight from the “Horse’s Mouth” and persuade me and the unknowing American public that this is humane!
“A lot of times at the plants when we had herds of (wild) horses come in like that, the colts often are not worth anything because they are so small. So they usually would just knock them in the head and throw them in the gut wagon. Once in a great while you might get an order from a country like Italy. They use the foal meat like we eat veal here. But it didn’t matter to anybody that these colts would die when they were dropped in the corrals. A mare might be just about due to foal and it didn’t matter. Went through the plant and they just cut her open and throw it in the gut wagon. Many a times at night, I would go into the corrals when I knew there were wild horses there because I knew how frightening it was for them. And how sad it was for the mares to try and take care of their young like they do in the wild. And it was the most painful thing to watch because they have just taken all these animals and put them together in the same pen. Horses they don’t know. Watching them get tangled up in the fences. Watching them try & climb over the fences. Watching what happens to them when you try and run them up the ramp to their destiny. (Cont)
…Another story that is probably real difficult thing for me to talk about was the time I was in the building and I happened to look down because I heard a big ruckus in the chutes. And I looked down and there was this black wild stallion that they were trying to get up the chute. But he was real smart. He knew what was coming. And he reared. He turned around and tried to crawl over the top of the other horses to get back down the chute. And, of course, man is always stronger and he is always going to figure out a way to get the job done because we’re talking about a dollar bill here. So they got all the crew out there. And they used the electric prods on him to prod him up. They used ropes around his neck to jerk him up. And they did everything they could. They finally got him into the chute where they could use a stun gun which is just a bullet that goes straight down into the top of the head. Suppose to kill them instantly. In all the meat rendering plants, that’s the tool that they use. And this horse took six shots and still didn’t go down. And as I was watching this, the tears were just streaming down my face because I couldn’t believe that they were still trying to kill something that was so determined to live. The spirit was there.
And finally the guy on the kill floor came up, running upstairs, laughing. And he says, “You know that son of a bitch just didn’t want to die.” He said, “But we got him. He got loose on the kill floor after six shots and they had to take a rifle before they could finally kill him.” And when he said that, it made me so sad to think that that kind of spirit is what we kill everyday and we don’t even think about it. If we can sell out those wild horses for the dollar bill and that spirit isn’t worth any more than the dollar bill, we’re soon to follow.”
These excerpts are reality and not an exception to the cruel and heartless scenario in horse slaughterhouses, irregardless of where the plant is located and likely even more appalling! After all isn’t the practice of veterinary medicine in most cases about the almighty dollar bill. AVMA’s alleged “euthanasia”, described as the act of inducing humane death in an animal, is in direct conflict to your precious OATH (see below) and is a deception of trust upon the American public. The AVMA’s participation and promotion of such barbaric practices against our equines is appalling and unacceptable. By the way, who are these non-veterinarians on your panel? Just by chance you forgot your “Veterinarian’s Oath”:
Veterinarian’s Oath(Approved by the HOD, 1954; Revision approved by the HOD, 1969; Revision approved by the Executive Board 1999, 2010)
Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.
I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.
I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.
Be reminded of the Ethics, as I see it, that you and your organization may have lost along the way or perhaps never had any to begin with and that “A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.” –Dr. Albert Schweitzer
respectfully submitted,
Betty L. Kelly, M.D. (retired), M.P.H, longtime wild horse-burro advocate/rescuer
25 Lewers Creek Road
Carson City (Washoe Valley) NV 89704
775-883-5488
LikeLike
Betty, thank you for what sounds like a life well and compassionately lived.
I’d like to send the part of your comments “from the horse’s mouth” about the black stud that JUST SAID NO TO slaughter on to my Senator… but they aren’t directly sourced. Do you have a citation or a reference source I can use? This Senator is “monitoring” the slaughter issue and has replied to me with some of the standard disproven talking points, but he is up for reelection in 2014 so I will keep asking him to take a position. What you posted is something he should read but without a direct source it will be easily dismissed.
LikeLike
http://moran.house.gov/press-release/moran-statement-usda-decision-allowing-re-opening-us-horse-slaughter-facility
Moran Statement on USDA Decision Allowing Re-Opening of U.S. Horse Slaughter Facility
Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat and co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) approval of an application for federal inspections at a horse slaughter facility in New Mexico.
According to the USDA, each horse slaughter facility opened in the U.S. would cost U.S. taxpayers over $400,000 per year in operation costs.
In addition to fiscal and public health concerns, public polls have consistently shown that nearly 80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter for human consumption.
LikeLike
Good news….The Travel Channel this morning had an excellent documentary on the wild horses here in Nevada. It did bring up that the BLM at PVC sold horses to a buyer in Colorado who transferred the BLM horses at PVC to Mexico to be slaughtered. So here the BLM PVC AGAIN gets caught with their pants down and I don’t see anything here in Nevada getting done about this…and Jeb Beck assured me that none of the horses at PVC ever went to slaughter…that is BS!!!!….
LikeLike
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/dec/31/bonsall-wild-horses-new-mexico-navajo/
Rescued NM Horses Now in California
LikeLike